The Energon Pub

I know the real life explanation for why Shockwave looks unusual is because he wasn't from the Diaclone line, but are there any in cannon explanations for his appearance? Do you have any pet theories of your own? Personaly I like to think that Shockers started off as some sort of battle drone, the sort of mass produced model that wouldn't need a real face or a second hand because it wouldn't last long enough to be worth the effort and cost. At some point the drone that would be Shockwave was the last of its kind, the others having been destroyed in battle. He was then upgraded to have a full personality, or atleast that was the plan, for it's not easy to take a drone and make it into a sentient transformer. The original basic circuitry couldn't handle emotions properly, leaving him as a cold and logical creature. Any thoughts?

Unchrasimatic wrote:I know the real life explanation for why Shockwave looks unusual is because he wasn't from the Diaclone line, but are there any in cannon explanations for his appearance? Do you have any pet theories of your own? Personaly I like to think that Shockers started off as some sort of battle drone, the sort of mass produced model that wouldn't need a real face or a second hand because it wouldn't last long enough to be worth the effort and cost. At some point the drone that would be Shockwave was the last of its kind, the others having been destroyed in battle. He was then upgraded to have a full personality, or atleast that was the plan, for it's not easy to take a drone and make it into a sentient transformer. The original basic circuitry couldn't handle emotions properly, leaving him as a cold and logical creature. Any thoughts?

because he's a transformer. lol j/k... kinda

I always imagined Shockwave as being really old, and that for some reason having a factor in his appearance - but on the other hand in many depictions he seems 'young'.

Ultimately, if I were going to make up a reason, I'd say -
A lot of the Decepticons changed in appearance when they went under the knofe to become Decepticons. Most would have just bulked up with more brawn and a lot more firepower, or components to bestow flight, and a few might have elected to make aesthetic changes as well.

Shockwave though, being a model of cold logic and efficiency, would have disregarded any aesthetic considerations as superfluous vanity, and done just the opposite - stripped his frame of all the niceties and used the extra space and conserved energy for more computing power and firepower.

Additionally, if Shockwave was originally an emotional creature, having his face deliberately stripped away may have been the penultimate act in casting off said emotions.

Still, what's up with him having only one eye? You'd think that someone like him would appreciate the need for depth perception.

cyclops are usually really stupid, but shockwave is intelligent, so i have no clue. maybe the creators were just high

Caelus wrote:I always imagined Shockwave as being really old, and that for some reason having a factor in his appearance - but on the other hand in many depictions he seems 'young'.

Ultimately, if I were going to make up a reason, I'd say -
A lot of the Decepticons changed in appearance when they went under the knife to become Decepticons. Most would have just bulked up with more brawn and a lot more firepower, or components to bestow flight, and a few might have elected to make aesthetic changes as well.

Shockwave though, being a model of cold logic and efficiency, would have disregarded any aesthetic considerations as superfluous vanity, and done just the opposite - stripped his frame of all the niceties and used the extra space and conserved energy for more computing power and firepower.

Additionally, if Shockwave was originally an emotional creature, having his face deliberately stripped away may have been the penultimate act in casting off said emotions.

I never thought the uni-opticed logic laser would streamline himself by removing perifials

I like your theory Caelus

Unchrasimatic wrote:I know the real life explanation for why Shockwave looks unusual is because he wasn't from the Diaclone line, but are there any in cannon explanations for his appearance? Do you have any pet theories of your own? Personaly I like to think that Shockers started off as some sort of battle drone, the sort of mass produced model that wouldn't need a real face or a second hand because it wouldn't last long enough to be worth the effort and cost. At some point the drone that would be Shockwave was the last of its kind, the others having been destroyed in battle. He was then upgraded to have a full personality, or atleast that was the plan, for it's not easy to take a drone and make it into a sentient transformer. The original basic circuitry couldn't handle emotions properly, leaving him as a cold and logical creature. Any thoughts?

I like Unchrasimatic's explanation. Compared to other Transformers on the TV show, Shockwave is bulky and tall. It's also interesting that he can fly around in gun mode. I always got the impression that he was a very old bot. Perhaps even older than Megatron.

Caelus wrote:I always imagined Shockwave as being really old, and that for some reason having a factor in his appearance - but on the other hand in many depictions he seems 'young'.

Ultimately, if I were going to make up a reason, I'd say -
A lot of the Decepticons changed in appearance when they went under the knofe to become Decepticons. Most would have just bulked up with more brawn and a lot more firepower, or components to bestow flight, and a few might have elected to make aesthetic changes as well.

Shockwave though, being a model of cold logic and efficiency, would have disregarded any aesthetic considerations as superfluous vanity, and done just the opposite - stripped his frame of all the niceties and used the extra space and conserved energy for more computing power and firepower.

Additionally, if Shockwave was originally an emotional creature, having his face deliberately stripped away may have been the penultimate act in casting off said emotions.

Ooh I like that story, could see it happening.

Here's an idea - What if Shockwave was created as part of an old defense system much like the Sentinels except that Shockwave spent most of his time in his alt mode. It might explain his large size for the alt mode and his ability to shoot various rays.

It could follow the similiar premise that Shockwave was originally a drone that was given a brain/spark just like Omega Supreme.

Caelus wrote:I always imagined Shockwave as being really old, and that for some reason having a factor in his appearance - but on the other hand in many depictions he seems 'young'.

Ultimately, if I were going to make up a reason, I'd say -
A lot of the Decepticons changed in appearance when they went under the knofe to become Decepticons. Most would have just bulked up with more brawn and a lot more firepower, or components to bestow flight, and a few might have elected to make aesthetic changes as well.

Shockwave though, being a model of cold logic and efficiency, would have disregarded any aesthetic considerations as superfluous vanity, and done just the opposite - stripped his frame of all the niceties and used the extra space and conserved energy for more computing power and firepower.

Additionally, if Shockwave was originally an emotional creature, having his face deliberately stripped away may have been the penultimate act in casting off said emotions.

that makes total sense to me-from a design point of view if for example u look at eleen greys chairs the only have one arm-because there is no need for two-like wise shockwave obvious deemed a second hand pointless and had it replaced, same goes for his sensor array (face)

although i dont kinda like the emotional effigy idea too-and it could well be both.

oh and here is the chair

ScorpoMax wrote:Still, what's up with him having only one eye? You'd think that someone like him would appreciate the need for depth perception.

Maybe he decided normal sight was too limited and inaccurate, and actually depends on something like highly sophisticated radar for navigating and targeting? And just kept the one optical-eye for reading text?

Yeah, I know, I'm stretching.

There is at least one other g1 cyclopes, Whirl. Wasn't he an autobot? I like the face removal idea. Perhaps it was in protest against the Quintesson domination period, the beings who have too many faces.

OptimusPrive wrote:There is at least one other g1 cyclopes, Whirl. Wasn't he an autobot? I like the face removal idea. Perhaps it was in protest against the Quintesson domination period, the beings who have too many faces.

I think one of the constructicons is uni opticed as well. Perhaps bonecrusher?

Don't suppose Shockwave had a hand in that one

AxiomScion wrote:

OptimusPrive wrote:There is at least one other g1 cyclopes, Whirl. Wasn't he an autobot? I like the face removal idea. Perhaps it was in protest against the Quintesson domination period, the beings who have too many faces.

I think one of the constructicons is uni opticed as well. Perhaps bonecrusher?

Don't suppose Shockwave had a hand in that one

Bonecrusher has a visor, that could be described as a single optic, but I don't think that was how it was supposed to be interpreted.

most 'main' characters, that look out of place, can be given the excuse of...

he was one of the original 12 made by primus...
or the full oposite, he is a unicron spawn in disguise.